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LIFE AT THE SPEED OF MOVING IMAGES
30/08/2007
Received to an immediate outburst of applause that quickly turned into an even more heartfelt standing ovation, the second official screening of Venice Days, The Speed of Life by Ed Radtke, features a cast of standout adolescent actors, in particular Jeremy Allen White in the lead role of Sammer, a young boy from the streets of New York who steals video cameras from tourists to pawn, but not before removing and watching the tapes, which nourish his dreams of becoming a world traveler.
Radtke himself was the same kind of troubled youth with whom he now works, in programs that teach filmmaking to at-risk teenagers and prisoners, and it is this blend of the personal that speaks of the universal that won over the clearly moved audience.
Marina Spada (director of the multiple award-winning film As a Shadow, which screened in Venice Days in 2006) said it was its courage and freedom that compelled her to present The Speed of Life, which fits squarely within the section’s selection of titles this year, many of which are variations on the theme of fathers who are either absent or have difficult relationships with their children, here experienced at the speed of life – that is, at times fast forwarding, at times in reverse – as the characters young and old struggle to make their way in life.
“I’ve made three movies so far, and they’ve all been about my father, who died two days before we started filming The Speed of Life,” said Radtke, adding, “I have a dear friend who’s a filmmaker, who says that every film is about a filmmaker’s mother or a filmmaker’s father.”
Also accompanying the film were producer Ira Deutchman and young actress Samantha Hosie-Leung, who called her first acting experience a “fun adventure. It is also very different than most movies kids my age are watching, which are made to entertain, because this one has a deeper meaning.”
Shot using all digital formats, from VHS to HD, the film’s raw immediacy epitomizes the age in which we are living according to the director, not only because “today I can shoot footage for my next film with the photo camera I carry in my pocket but because I believe in the power of images. Movies are extraordinary, I can fall in love in 90 minutes. Even when I leave the theatre after a sad movie, I feel happy to be alive. I wanted to communicate this. I want life to go on. The characters deserve that. We deserve that.”
Natasha Senjanovic
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